AS his elderly mother Rita settled down to watch Coronation Street, Robert Florence plotted the bloodiest of murders in the kitchen.

In a scenario that could have come straight from of his comedy sketch show Burnistoun, the actor’s pensioner mum ate her dinner watching telly, while low-budget slasher film The House of Him was being shot in the next room.

Unlike filming on his BAFTA-nominated BBC2 comedy series, there was no hair and make-up artist and no mobile catering unit outside his old family home in the east end of Glasgow.

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With the whole thing costing just £800, there was barely a budget either.

Robert reunited the Burnistoun cast to fulfil his boyhood ambition of writing and directing a low-budget horror film, bringing Louise Stewart, Kirsty Strain and Richard Rankin together in a very different world.

Robert said: “Not to spoil anything, but Kirsty’s character is killed right at the very start of the film. When that was happening, my ma was in the living room eating her dinner, watching Corrie with headphones on.

“She gets occasional visits from Cordia home help and there was a period when they’d be up to check on Rita and there would be a guy in a horror mask with a knife who would be standing in the hall.

A scene from Robert Florence's low budget horror film The House of Him

“It was the most bizarre shoot you’ll ever see, all told.”

The film is being made by the production company Robert runs with Burnistoun co-star Iain Connell. Robert’s girlfriend Joanne Daly and their daughter, Hope, are also involved with producing and acting roles respectively.

Meanwhile, Iain Cook, from Glasgow’s hottest band Chvrches, is working on the soundtrack with musician David Simpson.

Everyone, from Rita to Robert’s daughter, are shareholders in the film.

“I’ve filmed at my ma’s house before,” said Robert. “We made a video there for the Kelvin Brawl last year [a wrestling event he staged with Still Game’s Greg Hemphill] and I knew the actors we could use.

“The idea was to get them into the house and shoot it all in one place, like a wee chamber piece, something that could work as a play, something simple, a wee bit weird, and all made as cheaply as possible.

“Joanne and I have been talking about it constantly for months. We wake each other up in the middle of the night with ideas.

“We need a break from horror, but we can’t wait to see it on the big screen.”

Lead actor Richard Rankin had just finished work on big-budget BBC drama The Crimson Field, which will be shown on BBC1 in April.

“He came back from working on this big drama straight into working in my ma’s kitchen, wearing a mask for 10 days in a row,” said Robert. The end result can be seen later this month, in this year’s Glasgow Film Festival – if it’s finished in time, that is.

Robert Florence's horror flick is a mixture of "70s horror and Play For Today"

Robert, 36, has been pulling all-nighters to edit the film, getting by on two hours’ sleep for weeks.

“I’ve always wanted to make a horror film ever since I was a wee guy. My big sisters and brother would bring horror films into the house,” he said.

“So this is something I’ve been thinking about for a really long time.

“We’ve deliberately tried to make the film feel like the old Hammer House of Horror stuff, and also Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads.

“In one sense it feels like an American slasher film like Friday The 13th crossed with your 1970s traditional Play For Today.”

Rankin plays a terrifying masked killer and the whole story is influenced by Robert’s analysis of some men’s attitude towards domestic abuse.

He added: “There are definitely humorous moments in there but it’s not a comedy by any means.

“In fact, it’s actually quite heavy horror. But that’s been good. And it was nice to get everyone from Burnistoun together again.

“It was just like old times, only with loads of blood all over the floor.”

The House Of Him will be showing at Glasgow Film Theatre at 11.15pm on Saturday, February 22, as part of the 10th Glasgow Film Festival, which runs from February 20 to March 2.